The LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC, under the vibrant leadership of Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, is invested in a tradition of the new, through a commitment to foundational works and adventurous explorations. Both at home and abroad, the Philharmonic – recognized as one of the world’s outstanding orchestras – is leading the way in ground-breaking programming, both on stage and in the community, offering a diverse range of programs that reflect the orchestra’s artistry and demonstrates its vision. 2015/16 marks the orchestra’s 97th season.

More than 250 concerts are either performed or presented by the Philharmonic at its two iconic venues: the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. These presentations represent a breadth and depth unrivaled by other orchestras or cultural institutions.

During its 30-week winter subscription season of more than 240 performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil creates festivals, artist residencies, and other thematic programs designed to enhance the symphonic music experience and delve further into certain artists’ or composers’ work. The organization’s commitment to the music of our time is also evident throughout the season programming, as well as in the exhilarating Green Umbrella series and the LA Phil’s extensive commissioning initiatives.

In the 2013/14 season, the LA Phil presented TchaikovskyFest featuring Dudamel leading the LA Phil and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in all of the composer’s symphonies as well as the Minimalist Jukebox festival which highlighted the works of the genre’s brightest stars including Riley, Glass, Reich, Andriessen, and Adams. The LA Phil also concluded its three-year Mozart opera project with Cosi fan tutte. The 2014/15 season welcomed two new series that experimented with the boundaries of orchestral presentation. Both Inside the Music with Brian Lauritzen and in/SIGHT enticed audiences with new paths into the concert experience through pre-and post concert discussions, unique video content and live video installations. Other highlights of the season included the conclusion of Dudamel’s Beethoven cycle with Leife Ove Andsnes; a series of concerts commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ nicknamed “Hurricane Mama;” and the LA Phil’s first-ever Chinese New Year program.

Since 2003, the LA Phil’s home has been the inimitable Walt Disney Concert Hall. Praise for both the design and the acoustics of Walt Disney Concert Hall has been effusive, and the building embodies the energy, imagination, and creative spirit of the city of Los Angeles and its orchestra. As Time magazine noted, “With its curvaceous exterior and acoustically adroit
interior, Gehry’s building bestowed on the city an important architectural landmark and proved that L.A. residents actually do go to the symphony,” while The Washington Post stated, “At last this orchestra has a hall worthy of its stature.”

The orchestra’s involvement with Los Angeles also extends far beyond symphony concerts in a concert hall, with performances in schools, churches, and neighborhood centers of a vastly diverse community. Among its wide-ranging education initiatives is Youth Orchestra LA (YOLA). Inspired by Venezuela's revolutionary El Sistema – the LA Phil and its community partners provide free instruments, intensive music training, and academic support to over 700 students from underserved neighborhoods, empowering them to become vital citizens, leaders, and agents of change. In 2012, the LA Phil formed an innovative partnership with the Longy School of Music of Bard College. This bi-coastal alliance launched Take a Stand, a national initiative that supports social change through music by providing leaders and students with tools for growth through conferences and workshops, as well as providing progressive and rigorous training for performing and teaching musicians.

Always inspired to expand its cultural offerings, the LA Phil each season produces concerts featuring distinguished artists in recital, jazz, world music, songbook, and visiting orchestra performances, in addition to special holiday concerts and series of chamber music, organ recitals, and Baroque music.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic continues to broaden its audience by broadcasting concerts on radio and television. Thirteen concerts from the 2014/15 season will be broadcast in partnership with Classical KUSC and the WFMT Radio Network, with six also being broadcast on American Public Media. The 2013/14 series was nationally broadcast in 313 markets and reached over 3.8 million listeners. In January 2014, SiriusXM launched a new series “On the Podium with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic” featuring concert recordings and interviews with Dudamel. The LA Phil also agreed to a historic partnership with WFMT Radio Network and Shanghai East Radio Company to broadcast select 2013/14 concert recordings on Shanghai Classical 94.7 FM, making the LA Phil one of the first American orchestras to be heard on a regular basis in China.

Through an ongoing partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, the orchestra has a substantial catalog of concerts available online, including the first full-length classical music video released on iTunes. Rhapsody in Blue: Opening Night Concert and Gala was telecast as part of the PBS performing arts series Great Performances and garnered a 2012 Emmy nomination. In 2011, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel won a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance for their recording of the Brahms Symphony No. 4. In 1974, the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta won an Academy Award for “The Bolero,” a 30-minute short subject featuring Maurice Ravel’s famous orchestral work.